Getting started

Zoetrope runs as a desktop app on macOS, Windows and Linux, and as a web app in any modern browser. Both are the same editor.

Install

Download the file for your system from the download section (or the latest release).

macOS

Open the .dmg and drag Zoetrope into Applications. It is one universal app for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.
The first time, right-click (or Control-click) Zoetrope in Applications and choose Open, then Open again. The app isn't notarized by Apple yet, so a plain double-click is refused once.

If macOS says the app "is damaged", it was quarantined by the download. Run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Zoetrope.app in Terminal, then open it normally.

Windows

Run Zoetrope_…_x64-setup.exe (or the .msi if you deploy with Group Policy).
If SmartScreen shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. The installer isn't code-signed yet.
The installer adds Microsoft Edge WebView2 if your system doesn't have it (Windows 11 always does).

Linux

Zoetrope needs WebKitGTK 4.1, which ships with Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 37+ and similar.

AppImage (any distribution): chmod +x Zoetrope_*.AppImage then run it. Some systems need libfuse2 first (sudo apt install libfuse2).
Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install ./Zoetrope_*_amd64.deb
Fedora/openSUSE: sudo dnf install ./Zoetrope-*.x86_64.rpm

The web editor

Open the web editor in Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari 16.4+. Nothing is installed, and nothing is uploaded anywhere: your project stays in the browser. The differences from the desktop app:

Save downloads a .zoe file and Open asks you to pick one. There's no recent-files list.
Autosave and preferences are kept in the browser's storage for this site.
Exports download to your Downloads folder (a folder export downloads three files).

A tour of the editor

The Zoetrope editor with the animation demo open and a flower selected — The editor with the animation demo open and a flower instance selected.

Area	What it's for
Toolbar (top)	New… (blank project or a demo), Open…, Save, Import… (images), Export…, Recent… (desktop), ⚙ preferences, ? shortcuts, then undo/redo, grid and snapping, rulers, guides and zoom. When a tool has options (polygon sides, pencil mode, text style), they appear here too.
Tools (left)	Selection, subselection, pen, pencil, rectangle, ellipse, polygon/star, line, text, gradient transform, eyedropper, paint bucket and hand. Below them, the fill and stroke used for new shapes.
Stage (center)	What you're making. The white rectangle is the visible area; the darker pasteboard around it holds off-stage content. Rulers show stage coordinates; the status bar shows the cursor position.
Properties (right, top)	Changes with what you select: the stage, an object (position, size, transform, opacity, blend, tint, fill and stroke, align), a text, a symbol instance, or a frame (tween, easing, label, script, sound).
Library (right, bottom)	Your symbols. Drag one onto the stage to place an instance; double-click to edit it.
Timeline (bottom)	Layers on the left, frames on the right. Play, step, onion skin, insert frames and keyframes, add tweens, add layers and folders.
Status bar	File name (• means unsaved changes), stage size, cursor position, current frame, messages and errors, the Output panel for scripts, and how long the last frame took to draw.

Projects and files

In the desktop app, double-click a .zoe file to open it in Zoetrope. Every command is also in the menu bar (File, Edit, View, Modify, Control, Help), with its shortcut.
Closing the window or quitting with unsaved changes asks whether to save first.
A project is one .zoe file. Images, fonts and sounds you import are embedded in it, so you can move or share the file on its own.
Zoetrope autosaves unsaved work every 30 seconds (change it in ⚙ Preferences). If the app quits or crashes before you save, it offers the work back the next time it starts.
Every change can be undone (⌘Z / Ctrl+Z), including timeline, symbol and script changes.

Next: make your first animation.